OKC Thunder vs Utah Jazz Predictions, Player Props & Odds (Jan. 18)

• The OKC Thunder visit the Utah Jazz on Thursday night
• Utah has won six straight games, tied for the longest streak in the league
• See the Thunder vs Jazz odds, player props, and predictions on January 18

After tragedy postponed their game against Golden State last night, the Utah Jazz (22-20, 15-5 home, 25-16-1 ATS) return to action on Thursday, hosting the Oklahoma City Thunder (27-13, 11-8 away, 26-13-1 ATS) at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City at 7:00 pm MT/9:00 pm ET.

Though Utah is riding a six-game win streak – tied with Cleveland for the longest in the NBA – and the Thunder have lost two in a row to being their four-game road trip, OKC is listed as the favorite in the Thunder vs Jazz odds.

OKC Thunder vs Utah Jazz Odds

The Thunder are 3.5-point road favorites in Thursday’s NBA odds and -168 on the moneyline. The Jazz are +135 home underdogs to extend their win streak to seven. The total of 244.5 is only the second-highest of the five games today. (Pacers vs Kings has a total of 247.)

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Odds as of Jan. 18 on the BetMGM app. Claim a BetMGM promo code before betting on Thunder vs Jazz. 

If the season ended today, the Thunder would still hold the #2 seed in the West in the NBA playoff bracket, trailing #1 Minnesota by two games. The Jazz occupy the #9 seed and would face the Los Angeles Lakers in the 9-vs-10 Play-In Tournament game.

Thunder Quieted in Los Angeles

OKC brought a four-game win streak into its current road trip, but lost back-to-back games in Los Angeles to the Lakers (112-105) and Clippers (128-117) on Monday and Tuesday.

Slowed by a knee injury, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (31.0 PPG, 6.3 APG) was uncharacteristically quiet, scoring 24 against the Lakers and 19 against the Clippers. SGA had led the Thunder in scoring for 19 straight games, but it was Jalen Williams leading OKC with 25 in both games in LA.

This week’s losses notwithstanding, OKC still sits second in the NBA in Net Rating (+8.2) and point differential (+8.2), trailing just the Boston Celtics in both categories. They rate in the top six in both Offensive Rating (119.9, second) and Defensive Rating (111.7, sixth). Boston and Philadelphia are the only other teams who can make that claim.

Utah Rested and Ready

During Utah’s six-game win streak, the Jazz own three wins against teams in the top-three of their respective conferences (Bucks, second East; 76ers, third East; Nuggets, third West) along with the Pacers (seventh East), Lakers (tenth West), and Raptors (12th East).

Standout center Lauri Markkanen (24.0 PPG, 8.8 RPG) scored at least 21 points in all six wins and led the team in scoring in five.

Thanks to an ugly 7-16 start to the season, the Jazz are still midpack in Net Rating (-1.6, 21st) but the last six weeks has brought a night-and-day difference in their level of play. The Jazz are 15-4 straight-up in that span with all four losses coming on the road to playoff-caliber teams (Boston, Cleveland, Sacramento, and OKC).

OKC vs UTA Player Props

Player props from the DraftKings Sportsbook app. 

Despite his poor start to OKC’s trip, SGA is still listed with a game-high point total of 31.5.  Markkanen (24.5) has the highest total among Utah player in Thursday’s NBA player props and the highest rebound total on the board (9.5).

Thunder vs Jazz Prediction

SGA just hasn’t looked right the last two games. He was “questionable” with a knee injury prior to the Lakers game but then vanished from the injury report before the Clippers game, when he managed just 19 points in 34 minutes (only the third time this season he didn’t score at least 20). Playing his third game in four nights on a less-than-100% knee, it’s easy to see Gilgeous-Alexander having another subpar performance.

And when SGA isn’t at his peak, OKC struggles. The team is just 1-5 this season when Gilgeous-Alexander doesn’t lead the team in scoring. While OKC hasn’t lost three in a row all season, the Jazz haven’t lost a home game since Dec. 8 (9-0 since).

OKC vs Utah picks:

• Jazz moneyline (+130) – two units
• Gilgeous-Alexander under 31.5 points (-105)

Sascha Paruk’s 2023-24 NBA betting record:

• 10-10-2 ATS (-0.59 units)
• 11-12 ML (+0.83 units)
• 7-11 player props (-4.82 units)
• 0-1 same-game parlay (-2.00 units)

All wagers one unit unless expressly stated otherwise.